Add-onAddon Documentation Helps your Customers

Member

I've been using several custom add-ons on my XF installation and one thing keeps bothering me. Everytime I purchase and install an add-on, it creates several user group permission options and several admin options which is per design and very helpful. What bothers me is the lack of documentation or explanation about these user group permission and administrative options for the add-on.

Simple add-ons are easy, just switch them ON or OFF, change titles or minor settings and you are done. But for complex add-ons, developers should spend some time in documenting these permissions and settings in brief detail to help customers understand the various things customizable both from admin and user group permissions point of view.

Since developers come from various parts of the world and not everyone uses good English statements in these permission and settings areas, sometimes it is hard to understand what the add-on setting does when it is ON or when it is OFF for a user group.

I understand developers are busy coding and testing their add-ons and are in a hurry to release them to start generating revenue, but the hallmark of a good developer or company is providing excellent documentation which also reduces support tickets, questions about mundane issues or requests for more details about these settings.

Just a list of all admin settings available and a few lines of text explaining what that setting does and what each option value means would go a long way in being able to quickly install and start using the add-ons on large sites without several trial and error attempts to understand what the setting actually does.

As a best practice this applies to every product but more so for complicated add-ons which customize or add features to Xenforo. I've also seen some developers with great documentation for some of their products, kudos to them on the great job!